was causing trouble by suggesting that a black coalition be formed in Bermuda to fight AIDS.

Mrs. Debra Fraser-Howze, executive director of New York's Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, earlier this week noted that AIDS statistics on blacks in Bermuda were disproportionately high.

And she said it was time for leaders in the black community to take responsibility and unite against the spread of AIDS, just as white gay men had done in the US.

Yesterday, Mrs. Fraser-Howze told Hamilton Lions at their weekly luncheon at The Princess, she received an overseas call, informing her that reports had reached New York that she was causing controversy in Bermuda.

She said she was also confronted, at dinner on Tuesday night, by a prestigious local white doctor who accused her of making comments that were racially divisive.

She said the doctor also told her Bermuda did not have a race problem so there was no need for a black coalition on AIDS.

Mrs. Fraser-Howze said when she asked him if he knew what BLCA was and what it did, the doctor said he did not "but it did not belong here (in Bermuda)''.

"I was not mad,'' she said, "but I was concerned that there was such strong opinions formed by individuals who did not have the information about what was being proposed. And I wonder if other proven techniques are discarded just based on strong feelings.'' Noting she runs a multi-million dollar organisation that brought together more than 750 churches in the US to work with powerful leaders like the president's AIDS czar, she said: "I was not brought here to stir things up, but to try to find a way to stem this epidemic and reduce AIDS on islands and in countries where blacks have been hit most.'' Mrs. Fraser-Howze, who noted that one of her chief aides is white, said the approach of a community coming together based on culture to deal with diseases was not new.

And, she added, BLCA works closely with all other organisations "as we come together on what to do about AIDS''.

Mrs. Fraser-Howze praised all of the local Lions clubs for their work.

"From what I've heard and read, you are by far one of the shining stars of this entire Country.''